Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett here. There are many times in a writer’s life when something unexpected happens. On average, these are good experiences. One of the best of my career happened last Saturday at the Maine Crime Wave.

This award, given for “excellence and achievements” as a Maine writer by the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, was named in memory of my dear friend and fellow Maine Crime Writers blogger, Lea Wait. We lost Lea too early, but it is a lovely tribute to her that the award was created this year and will continue to be presented to Maine writers. To tell you the truth, in a perfect world Lea herself would have been the first recipient. Below is one of my favorite photos of her, together with Kate Flora, Barb Ross and me, on the one and only retreat the four of us managed to organize. We had a blast, and Barb’s husband, Bill Carito, took this photo on the last day.

On Saturday, Kate interviewed me. That was a lot of fun and seemed to go over well. Here’s a photo my husband took of the Q&A.

There were other panels throughout the day and had been events the evening before as well. The finale was a “mega panel” centered around what we hate (and love) about writing. As you can see below, it was a motley crew that participated in this one. Left to right here are Cheryl A. Head, Jessica Ellicott, Julia Spencer-Fleming, me, Brenda Buchanan, Carla Neggers (who was Maine Crime Master for the event),Barb Ross, Carolyn Marie Wilkins, Chris Holm, and Matt Cost.

The community of writers here in Maine is alive and well and this is our once-a-year opportunity, since many of us live in remote areas of the state, to get together in person. Writers from other states are always welcome, too, along with avid mystery readers. This “retired” writer had a wonderful time connecting with old friends and making a few new ones, too.

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has self published others, including several children’s books. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. Her most recent publications are The Valentine Veilleux Mysteries (a collection of three short stories and a novella, written as Kaitlyn) and I Kill People for a Living: A Collection of Essays by a Writer of Cozy Mysteries (written as Kathy). She maintains websites at www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com.